Around this time in 2014, NVIDIA unveiled the SHIELD Tablet, and then refreshed the device as the Tablet K1 at a lower price point in late 2015. Back in May, we brought you the report that an FCC filing for a possible 2016 follow-up to the Tablet K1 had leaked. Among some possible measurements, we could only tell that the device was codenamed “P2290W,” that it was simply called a “Shield Tablet” in the filing documents, and that it would ship with 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi.

Furthermore, a poster on the NVIDIA forums claimed to have seen a mention of the device in the code for NVIDIA’s Android TV, citing it is as “Hawkeye.” He stated that “Hawkeye” had a Tegra X1 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and 1920x1200 for a screen resolution.

Since that leak, things have been pretty silent. However, according to a dismissal request letter submitted to the FCC by NVIDIA, the follow-up to the SHIELD Tablet K1 has been cancelled. In the letter, NVIDIA’s Compliance Engineering Manager claims that the reason for the dismissal request and cancellation of the product is “business reasons.” Perhaps NVIDIA has noted the declining tablet sales across the market, and has decided instead to focus its efforts elsewhere.

If so, then maybe not all hope for an addition to the SHIELD family is lost. We have not heard much on the Bluetooth and WiFi certifications that appeared earlier this year for the rumored device codenamed “P2523,” believed to be a follow-up to the original Shield Portable. That filing is still listed as active at the FCC.

Comments

Indeed. There's better tablets, and there's cheaper tablets, but there's no great tablets that cheap, and I love it.

Quick Android updates are a huge plus, too.

Mike Gray

I kno rite?? It's now 2018 and now the tablet is getting scarse people are asking for more money for the shield k1 then it was new in store lol. Marked up by 15% and firm too.. I'm getting 2 of them if everything works out. I hot one coming today any moment actually. And another one 3 hours away.. now this one is a steal of a price so it's worth a 3 hour drive each way.

Reggie

Aren't they supposed to announce the next generation of the mobile SoC based on Pascal along with the mobile variants of 10xx series GPUs at Gamescon? There has got to be a launch vehicle for the Pascal SoC in some shape or form.

Tinwarble

Which may be the Nintendo NX since from all reports it will be using a Tegra/Pascal SoC.

newtonfb

I dont have a Shield tablet but I have a Shield Android Tv and its AWESOME

catalysto

Just wish it had a better remote.

newtonfb

I use a Harmony to control everything. Wish I had bought one sooner

DirkBelig

I just revamped my home theater and picked up a pair of Harmony 650 remotes for $25 each from NewEgg - one to replace a Harmony 700 at my g/f's with several failing buttons (Logitech's sadly regular problem) - and after adding the Shield just as a means to get the AVR and TV to switch over, I was surprised to discover that the Shield had an IR sensor and that the Harmony could control it. I had no idea it was anything but RF.

It's so great to have discrete buttons for fast-forward and rewind, especially for YouTube. Tap to skip ahead 10 seconds either way; hold down to shuttle quickly. Could never do that with the craptacular Shield remote. (And the Harmony was half the price of what they want for the lame Nvidia remote. I got mine for free and still overpaid.)

Prezes Dyrektor

What's wrong with the remote? I like using it

DirkBelig

The remote is fashion over function. Unlike the Fire TV Stick remote that has discrete buttons for everything - play/pause, F-Fwd, Rew, Home, Options, Back - plus the D-pad, the Shield remote forces you to use the D-pad for everything and apps like YouTube require two presses to pause and play. All in order to have the stupid voice search button when I have probably used 5 times in the 8 months I've had my Shield TV. Not worth it for the price of free it cost me; I'd be apoplectic if I'd paid $50 for it.

catalysto

It's nice, quality-wise, but it's missing a few things like a play/pause button.

My Nexus 9 fizzled out recently and I've been in the market for a replacement. I was holding out for the updated SHIELD tablet, since those seem pretty good and price-efficient. But then the K1 went out of stock and the follow-up has been cancelled. I don't know whether to downgrade to a $100 Nexus 7, drop another $200 on another Nexus 9, $360 on an iPad, or $450 on a Pixel C. Or maybe just deal without having a tablet for a while. :/

Agree or someone else, or something else entirely as I mentioned in my post.

萨夫 侯赛因

Possibly shifting focus towards a partnership with Nintendo for their upcoming NX?

aylamo

Ugh I hope not

Neon Fox

This could be the rumored NX.

Sir_Brizz

If true very sad for a very good platform despite the few flaws.

Kanoosh

a new shield portable with a at least a 1080p screen (QHD would be preferable) 4 gigs of RAM , SD support , lighter controller , slimmer design and all at an affordable price.. and you got yourself a buyer already.

josh rosales

My k1 is garbage. Wifi drops every 5 minutes. It is updated to the latest firmware and android 6.0.1.

I agree with you Josh, this is the single most frustrating problem with my K1 as well. Anyone using a 3rd party Rom that fixes this problem?

sdelfin

One of the updates killed my wifi too. It was a mistake on their end as I recall that being news. I manually flashed the official software with a kernel date of March 29. That seemed to improve the wifi, but I haven't used the tablet a lot lately so can't confirm now it is consistent. But my wifi was very bad before. I don't care about updates so I have rooted now that it's working better. I'll likely look into custom ROMs soon. I like the tablet, but the software could be much better.

RRHansen

Well that just ruined my day. I've been waiting 2 years for this thing! The Android tablet market is just about dead when even a niche-product like this one get pulled.

remydlc

Dont worry, you are saving yourself from dissapoinments.

Prezes Dyrektor

The reason for the market being saturated is the fact that people don't change tablets every year.

Smanny

I think it has to do with big phones (phablets) have been cannibalizing their own tablets. If you have a really big phone, then a small tablet especially is not needed. If you have a 6.4" phablet then you really don't need a tablet at all.

Also Android phablets can do more than their Android tablet counterparts. Especially when you can get pens, and much better cameras in big phones. Not to mention you can get fast processors with lots of RAM and lots of storage, with many offering expandable storage.

I can wait for lenovo's phab 2 pro with the 3 cameras on the back (tango).

Prezes Dyrektor

I think it's also about the hardware. My two year+ devices are as fast as ever and handle most tasks smoothly. The tablet also gets far less usage than smartphone, but it's nice when you use it for those other situations.

With a QHD display, what else can be improved?

Jason Pagliaro

Agreed. Got my gf a K1 and she's been loving it. Battery kinda sucks but oh well. Been waiting on the upgrade to buy for myself.

I used to be in denial too, (which is why I bought a disappointing shield k1 last Christmas when my 2 year old Nexus 7 2013 started suffering from hardware failure) but the hybrid laptops and Chromebooks are where it's at now. Am I seriously the only one noticing that very few flagship Android tablets are coming out these days? Even the pixel c was supposed to run chrome OS and it hasn't been a hit not when you can get a more productive Microsoft surface for the same price that runs a full PC os and doesn't have to deal with the limitations of Android. Even the iPad is failing these days. The tablet era was a fad just like netbooks. Android apps on chrome OS will be the final nail in the coffin.

OligarchyAmbulance

I don't understand what your point is. Some of us continue to use tablets and love them. Just because sales are down doesn't mean I'm magically going to stop liking my tablets. I have an iPad Pro and Pixel C. I use them constantly, and plenty of people continue using their tablets as well. Let people use and enjoy what they want, you don't need to decide for them.

Cross-shopping a new NVIDIA tablet and an iPad Pro? That's like saying you're bummed the new VW GTI isn't out and you're going to buy a 911 instead, lol.

Marc Perrusquia

Haha, I knew as soon as I typed that someone would comment on the absurdity. I'm usually an Android user both of my daily drivers, (The HTC 10, and Nexus 6p) run Android. But I think iOS just works a lot better for tablets. But I was hoping Nvidia would make a killer tablet with front facing speakers and the X1, but it seems like those hopes are dashed.

Rob Sauceda

I agree that iOS is good for a tablet. Good features loaded in for the home user and reliable with updates. However i would have preferred a new Nvidia tablet to go nicely with mini PC with Nvidia gpu in it

Marc Perrusquia

That's another reason I wanted one for my new rig with my 1080. The native streaming option was pretty cool. I know there's different t ways to get that functionality but having it out of the box is freaking cool.

WhoaManWtF

It is not absurd, I am in the same boat. I was waiting for this tablet and have been looking for any info on it off and on every week or so. The second choice for me at the moment is the iPad pro... They just simply do tablets better than the rest of the Android tablet makers. I have an S2 but it does not cut it for gaming at all. I am huge on Android for phones but their tablets have been nothing but disappointing.

Marc Perrusquia

I here you, Android tablets aren't cutting it. Even the higher end ones. I guess Apple is getting our money. Maybe Google can pull a hail Mary and release a new pixel tablet without last year's bugs.

Pffft. The K1 is at least a Camaro SS in that analogy. And I'd take the Camaro and spend the difference on a new F150 ecoBoost.

Reggie

Not really. If you're concerned about GPU performance then the iPad Pro was the only other device in the same class as the X1's Maxwell based GPU.

snowglyder

Crap. I was looking forward to upgrading my og Shield Tablet. Love this thing. WiFi needs fixing, but great otherwise. Just wanted a refresh with USB C and fast charging, and at least 32Gb WITHOUT LTE, since att holds up quick updates. Guess I'll wait to see what else is released, or look to the Pixel C.

Jason Bell

I would likely have upgraded from my original Shield Tablet as well. I was actually considering an LTE version (with a Fi data-only SIM of course). Ah well, my tablet is still working well, and it's pretty much the perfect size, so I guess I'll wait another year to see what may be coming out.

remydlc

No one is going to miss them. POS is slow and laggy as f%&#. At least the K1. No updates fixed anything, stock or CM based. The Samsung tablets (S and S2) appears to be the only android tablets that are useful. Eventually i might have to get an iPad and jailbreak the hell out of it to make it interesting.

syxbit

I'm going to miss it. I love my K1. The screen isn't too bright, and battery is average, but I couldn't ask for more at $200

Prezes Dyrektor

It's one of the fastest tablets out there...

Jezwinni

Obviously never even touched one. I have two and they never lag.

Imparus

Riight, I have one I use daily, and here is a simply thing that will get it to lag, just start updating apps and use it at the same time, and you will see more lag than doing the same on a nexus 5.

sdelfin

I don't know if this applies to you or f you've experienced it, but it would lag heavily at times when I'd use it plugged in. It made the touch screen nearly unresponsive whenever it felt like it.

Imparus

I had that, but it got fixed in the last update from Nvidia

Jezwinni

You must be on an older version of Android. That problem hasn't happened to me since before 5.1.1, maybe you have a cheap charger? The only time mine misbehaves is when it is charging on my old Nokia charger.

Imparus

Why the hell are you talking about charger? I'm not talking about their wonky input bug they had while charging for quite some time, which they got around to fix. I'm talking about lag overall whatever or not it is in the charger, when doing something like updating apps from the Play store, and doing something else at the same time.

Jezwinni

They never fixed the charger issue at all. If you use cheap charger it lags.

They have fixed the lagging when you try updating/downloading multiple apps from the play store from 5.1.1 onwards.

Why did I reply? I was just trying to help you out if you were still suffering from issues that were resolved post twelve months ago.

Why are you so angry?

Imparus

You start out your comment with saying I am on an outdated version of Android for no reason, and then start talking about charger which I haven't even mentioned. Also I didn't mentioned lag as the bug I talked about for charging, it was the the input issue while charging that some time appeared on some of their older builds.

The lag I was talking about is an I/O issue haven't and can't be completely fixed, since it is a hardware issue/limitation.

Jezwinni

Both of mine work fine, they never lag even when updating apps since android 5.1.1.

That was all I said throughout, what you getting stressed about?

Imparus

"You must be on an older version of Android", this line means that you are saying the issue is because I'm on an older version of android. That is quite the foolish statement, if you actually wanted to help like you claim you will have done something like "You might be on an older version" doing an assumption or "what version are you running?" for trying to figure out the problem.

I'm sorry but I have a hard time trusting someones statement that they don't experience lag, when they don't even know it isn't the same as wonky input interface, and say one thing but do something else ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Jezwinni

OK we will stick to original statement that you were defending rather than argue about the minutia of shield tablet issues and the difference between input delay and lag.

So the shield tablet is slow, laggy and a piece of shit just like remydlc stated.

Sorry for quite liking mine and not being affected by lag.

PS it is only a tablet, not worth getting stressed about. Chill!

Imparus

"So the shield tablet is slow, laggy and a piece of shit just like remydlc stated."

Dude you are being very defensive and not listening to what I'm saying at all. Like I never said input delay, when talking about the bug that it had at one version it was a buggy input recognition, where it would miss/ignore some touch.

"OK we will stick to original statement that you were defending rather
than argue about the minutia of shield tablet issues and the difference
between input delay and lag."

So you aren't even gonna admit that you were being childish in using must? wow real mature, bye bye.

Jezwinni

Ha ha, yeah I don't want childish.

What a prick!

remydlc

Ha! You got me there.... NO! Need a video as proof? I have the shield tv and tablet. I thought i knew lag with TW before until I got the tablet.

Gabriel Macys

Calling it now: K1 cancelled to make Nintendo NX using the Hawkeye as a start point. :D

BoFiS

That's sad, I quite like my K1, esp it's magnetic cover and timely updates. It's the perfect size/performance/price ratio for me, and I hope they are only canceling this to update the internals with something new that's better instead maybe, but I hope the size would remain the same!

blindexecutioner

I liked the original for the short time I had it. It developed a screen defect so I got rid of it. I would like a new Nexus 7 or 8. Pixel is too expensive and not as good as a real laptop.

I happen to have a K1 and it's a good performer, but there are 3 fundamental problems with it:
- nobody utilizes it's power
- the built quality is questionable (high quality materials are not important if you put them together in a sloppy way)
- the OS updates take a WHILE to get right (some pretty severe bugs seem to show every first release of an update by them, happened twice now with the K1)

The free replacement - that is an obligation (and good PR) so I fail to see how I should praise them for replacing dangerous hardware they sold.

I meant that every piece of mobile hardware they had has some glaring problem:
- Tegra 2: terrible performance
- Tegra 3: same performance as all the other GPUs on the market despite claims, very few devices used them and it died out really fast
- Tegra 4: the exact same problems as T3, a bit better performance-wise but it was used in...what, 4 devices? (I know it's a bit more but how many of them are globally available from retailers)

Tegra K1 and X1 is where the power difference really showed but the problem is now that nothing uses the power they gave us. There are maybe 10 games that actually need a K1 or X1 GPU, for everything else, the current Adreno and Mali GPUs work just fine.
I will say, whoever made the K1 did a good job (though built quality QA please!), it has a lot of really cool features, but it's so underused and some of these features are becoming standard for the industry so I fail to see how the Shield line will continue its existence if nVidia doesn't take it seriously (and no, streaming PC games to your tablet is NOT making it better by any means).

Rich S

As I previously mentioned, why put up with bugs? Root the thing dont use the official updates, flash the firmware, but save the original. I have at least 15 different roms and 5 kernels saved, there is also a really good kernel available that allows you to tweak the k1. Admittedly this isnt as easy as the teg1 to teg4, you could simply do that with an app with a rooted device but it can now be done still. And it can make a difference depending on how you use it.
Im with you on gpu power though.
I still dont understand why people have to go for certain gpu cpu driven hardware when the best hasnt been seen from the current batch.
Ive also noticed some coloration at the edge of the screen on the shield too, no doubt the screen glue, similar to the MS surface heat issue in early batches so yea build could be better
It does get warm

Spencer Navarra-Chew

So, I definitely agree with a lot of your points there. The K1 and X1 are definitely underutilized, which is, I believe, why Nvidia is exiting the market. Android gaming devices are just not a thing, unfortunately.
If the Nintendo NX rumours are true, then maybe we'll finally see a win.
I've heard about build issues with the the Shield Tablet/K1, but all 4 of the ones I've owned have been great (2 original recalls and their replacements), so I'm super happy with the build quality.
As for the recall, of course they had to correct it, but there are a lot of ways to handle it. They could have had all the defective units returned for repairs, they could have had a straight exchange, they could have done it through retail channels, instead they just sent everyone a new tab with no hassle.
In my case, I had originally purchased a WiFi model, which had an unfortunate accident and ended up with a shattered LCD. I bought an LTE model to replace it, but thanks to the generous replacement policy, I was able to get replacements for both.
Gotta say, it was painless and worked out well for me.
As for bugs, fair enough, it's the flip side to the frequent updates. More testing would catch most of the problems, but the there would slower update cycle.
As a side note, my LTE model gets slower updates due to AT&T certification and avoids the majority of the bugs.

To sum up, I'm super happy with my Shield Tablet and Nvidia service, less thrilled with the lack of high performance games.

One last note:
The Tegra 2 was the fastest processor available for about 4 months and stayed very competitive for nearly a year. I personally had the fastest benchmarked device in the world for close to a week (I think it was AnTuTu, but I was long enough ago, I can't be sure) on my overclocked Dell Streak 7 (powered by a Tegra 2) 😁

Rich S

Ill go with that, i had an 18 month old shield tablet and they sent me a new one, even though it also had a big pressure dead spot on screen

Support refers to updates yes? What else for a tablet that uses standard inputs and outputs would you need support for but software or updates? With a device rooted why would you bother with 'official' updates when the tablet has quite a fair amount of support in the rooting community with roms etc

For a start, the Shield devices generally have 0 of it.
Next, while customs ROMs are awesome to have around, the vast majority of them are garbage (sorry devs, learn the importance of stability and then brag about features). "Try the next Super Mega Turbo Android N The Championship Edition ROM! Its so much better than the OEM one! ...just don't use WiFi or LTE on it, it will make your device bootloop for all eternity", or "It might restart when you dial numbers, oh and the TV
Moving on - a lot of retailers will straight up decline any warranty claims if you use custom ROMs on it, no matter what the OEM says about it.
Finally - a huge number of devices (especially Tegra ones) have pretty much no custom ROMs worth using.

I'm still using my Nexus 7 (2013) model and it's creaking in operation. It won't automatically go into landscape anymore and the touchscreen is a little crazy in places.

Was looking at the shield as a replacement, but with only 16GB on board I was hanging on for a 32GB version.

Maybe I'll have to consider the pixel C now when discounted.

Abhijeet

Rumored ..... Cancelled. Ohhh, well.

Anthony

Does the Pixel C have games specifically made for it like the Nvidia Shield does?

Adrian Meredith

no because google gimped it, it doesn't use nvidia's official graphics drivers (same as gtx). Instead it uses open source drivers hence no full opengl and the performance was so much worse than shield tv.

I have a nexus 9 and its the same problem, its not even getting vulkan support despite being a desktop class gpu

Interesting and this number was also the number everyone was using for the FCC report released a few weeks back on the tablet replacement.

Something else to consider is the main board inside the Shield TV is based on the original reference board for the TX1 and looked very much like the PCB in the original Shield. In fact the Shield TV PCB has SMT pads for a mini HDMI jack, micro USB jack, 1/8" four pole audio jack, and a Micro SD card reader. The board also has space for a Invensense IMU as well as a few other components. The board can be driven by 5 VDC power source. So why is the Shield TV so big then? Part of it is for heat conduit based cooling system & fan, and the 2.5" HDD for the Pro model. Why is so heavy? Do make it feel substantial, since the panels are nothing more than casted zinc or similar metal glued to the top and bottom. In fact this disclosure makes a lot of sense, since the board is already done and has been tested in the "field" for over a year now.

anees

Disappointing start to the morning. Shield tablet k1 is imo one of the best tablet in its price range.

Jordan Palmer

I'll admit, I was saddened by the news. Never owned NVIDIA hardware, but their Shield line was always appealing.

InzMovi

It may also have something to do with Nintendo. It's rumored that the NX may be a tablet-like device which uses Tegra at it's core. And thus they're afraid that nVidia may canibalize/confuse customers if it releases a tablet with the same chipset

MJ

What?

Renaldi I.

...yeah, I don't think the market Nintendo is most concerned with will be too persuaded by a tablet with a completely different OS and ecosystem...

InzMovi

Believe me when I tell you that people don't know any better, can and will mistake the two. Part of the reason why the WiiU failed was because people thought it was aa tablet upgrade for the Wii and not a completely new system.

Armand Rock

there has been rumors that Nintendo's OS will at least be partially based on Android....although like anything else at this point its just rumors so I wouldn't put much stock in it until details are officially released.

Rich S

With it being so easy to root, the k1 shield is still a great option if you can get one

Sergio Carmona

Still looking for a worthy replacement for my Samsung Note 10.1 2014 Edition...

Ryan Gabbard

Shield Portable and Tablet cancelled. My guess is the follow ups are going to a certain Japanese game company..

Chromebooks will be taking over this segment of the market shortly with the integration of play store. Maybe they will release a kickass convertible chromebook

hkklife

Yup, this is pretty much the nail in the coffin for the Android tablet market for anything costing over $150. Samsung introduced a Tab S2 that was almost worse in every way (other than SoC) across the board vs the Tab S2 then barely "refreshed" it this year with a new Snapdragon and no tangible rumors of an S3 in sight. The Pixel C has certainly been a flop and Dell abandoned their Android tablets.

Nvidia and Android always seem to eventually add up to pain and suffering, one way or the other! At the very least they should juice up the existing K1 formfactor with a 2016 refresh with 32GB storage, a better panel, bigger b attery and a speed bump. It's pretty telling that I NEVER saw one of these in person, either as an in-store demo or from someone using one.

Spencer Navarra-Chew

I bought my 32 GB Shield Tablet (the LTE version) after seeing it as a retail demo unit at Best Buy here in Canada. At the time I had recently broken the screen on my original 16GB WiFi Shield Tab and saw the LTE tucked away in the back corner of the display, all but forgotten. Turns out it was the only one in stock and the store manager owed me a favour so I got it 25% off 😋

Lman146

Sort of bummed, but it makes me feel a little better about buying the K1 a couple months ago. It's a good tablet, but definitely feels like it could be refined. Maybe next year.

On another note, NVIDIA is rumoured to be providing a Tegra chip in Nintendo's new system, which may be a handheld tablet-esque device that can be used on the big screen as well. Could this have been cancelled to avoid competition between the 2 devices? Sounds like something Nintendo would require to have their business...

Chris Johnston

I wonder if this has anything to do with the rumors that nvidia is making the chips for the next nintendo system, and they don't have the resorces to do both/want to compete with nintendo?

I own a K1. As much as it's a good value, it has some glaring faults that often make it infuriating to use:
1) The screen digitizer is AWFUL. It's quite common the tablet to be unresponsive to input, especially during or right after the screen unlock process.
2) Although the K1 CPU is great at benchmarks, it absolutely SUCKS in real world use. My 2014 Galaxy S5 with CM 13 on it runs circles around my 2015 K1 with the same apps loaded.
3) Nvidia somehow shipped a tablet without 802.11ac connectivity in 2015.
Literally the 3 best things about the K1 is the inclusion of adoptable storage, which pretty much makes it a laptop class device in terms of functionality (read: NOT performance), the price, and the lightweight ROM that leaves a lot of available internal storage.